MARY NELSON FELT passionate about the impact she was having in medical research, doing investigative drug and medical device studies. But the work was draining, and she came home one day and said she just didn’t love it anymore. Her husband, a veteran of reverse mortgages, said, “Great, come work for me.” She hesitated, saying she wanted “to make a difference in people’s lives.” Making a Difference With Reverse Mortgages “What I didn’t realize until I got in the business is that I am making an incredible difference in people’s lives,” she says. Today, they are CRMPs with V.I.P. Mortgage Inc. Their agile, carefully constructed team presents reverse mortgages as viable options for a diverse range of clients. They focus on education to dispel old myths, while growing the business by leveraging unique partnerships with financial planners and forward loan officers. Tim Nelson has been in the mortgage industry for 30 years. The pivot to reverse came in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when his employer, a major lender, dropped the wholesale mortgages he’d been working on. He was skeptical when a former account executive introduced him to reverse mortgages. But the schooling opened his eyes to reverse mortgages as “the way that middle America retires going forward,” and he joined her at Wells Fargo. One year later, Wells Fargo got out of reverse mortgages. Tim Nelson shifted to MetLife, which exited reverse mortgages after eight months. He had been working with financial planners on the retirement strategy potential of reverse mortgages, and he realized it was time to stop hitching his fate to the vagaries of corporate giants. Husband and Wife Build Business To Help Others A Chat With Tim Nelson, CRMP, and Mary Nelson, CRMP, V.I.P. Mortgage Inc., Scottsdale, AZ By M. Diane McCormick CRMP: Across the Kitchen Table 14 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY-AUGUST 2024
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